Report: Most Canadians don’t know what artificial intelligence is

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a program or machine to think and learn on its own. AI can come in many forms, such as Apple’s Siri virtual assistant, the way non-player characters react in a video game, self-driving cars and more. However, despite AI’s prevalence in everyday life, it’s clear that many people aren’t quite sure what AI actually is.

According to a report published by Havas, Canadian awareness for AI is high, particularly amongst males (86 percent), millennials (86 percent), HH Income $100K+ (90 percent) and those with a university education (93 percent).

However, 86 percent of Canadians said that while they may have heard of AI, they don’t actually know what the term implies.

In addition, 84 percent of Canadians said they think they know what AI is, but provided an incorrect definition nonetheless. Interestingly, a combined three percent of participants said that they thought AI referred to either aliens, people (specifically politicians) pretending to be intelligent, the 2001 science-fiction film of the same name, or brain-implanted microchips.

Canadians also reported that they weren’t sure how often they come across AI in their everyday lives. While 77 percent of Canadians said that they think they’ve encountered the technology at some point in time, only 23 percent indicated that they’ve done so on a daily basis.

And finally, 51 percent of Canadians said they were unsure how AI would affect jobs, with 29 percent saying it be a positive influence and 19 percent saying it would be a negative influence.

The report was based off an online survey that was conducted among 1,509 randomly selected Canadian adults across two days in April 2017.